Willem de KooningAmerican, 1904–1997Legend and Fact
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “Legend and Fact” now? Collection: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.
Washington, D.C., United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
Details
- Accession number
- 1971.52.1.a-d
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- National Gallery of Art
- Image: National Gallery of Art — © the artist or rights holder
In the life of Willem de Kooning
The whole life1938
Meets Elaine Fried
In 1938 her teacher introduced Elaine Fried, then 20 and an admirer of Willem’s work, to the 34-year-old De Kooning in a Manhattan cafeteria. He began to teach her drawing and painting in his loft on West 21st Street, sternly demanding precise linear definition, and destroyed many of her drawings, which impelled Elaine to strive for both precision and grace.
turn of the 1930s and 1940s
His own manner takes shape
De Kooning’s individual manner took shape at the turn of the 1930s and 1940s under the influence of Picasso and Miró.
1940s
Meets Franz Kline
De Kooning met the younger painter Franz Kline, who was also working in the figurative style of American realism and had been drawn to monochrome. Kline, who died young, became one of De Kooning’s closest artist friends; his influence is evident in De Kooning’s calligraphic black images of this period.
![Ginevra de' Benci [obverse], Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1474/1478](https://api.nga.gov/iiif/8f29e3c9-a289-4d53-abf0-31a66e9e98fa/full/!2400,2400/0/default.jpg)
![Wreath of Laurel, Palm, and Juniper with a Scroll inscribed Virtutem Forma Decorat [reverse], Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1474/1478](https://api.nga.gov/iiif/ff62e8d0-45c4-498f-ad36-6358de827e04/full/!2400,2400/0/default.jpg)
![[Das Schiff des Glücks; The Ship of Fortune; La fortune contraire], Rembrandt, 1633](https://diglib.hab.de/varia/haum/rembrandt-v3-4595/max/000001.jpg)
![[Das Schiff des Glücks; The Ship of Fortune; La fortune contraire], Rembrandt, 1633](https://diglib.hab.de/varia/haum/rembrandt-ab3-0134/max/000001.jpg)
